Hey! I studied abroad in Japan last spring, and felt like my level skyrocketed. I gained so much confidence and I really felt like I learned to communicate so effectively. I went in maybe N4, and left with maybe a very confident N3- which I guess doesn’t sound like much, but my experience from the start to the end felt like night and day. The biggest thing was that I used to have certain things I wanted to say, and just be unable to express them. I grew to not be able to always say exactly what I meant, but figure out some alternative way to express things, which was huge. I haven’t lost that completely or anything, thankfully.
I of course expected to lose momentum once I came back home, although I use Japanese every day between my own class (doing Tobira), TAing a beginner class, volunteer manga translation, and my Japanese friend I often hang out with. But I still struggle with the fact that I’ve forgotten so much of what I learned, and feel like I’ve gone back to stumbling so much more often. It’s so hard to put so much effort into a skill only for it to slowly fade without constant upkeep. I wish I was one of those people that makes 6hr per day study plans but I’m just not that person. I do plan to apply for JET this fall, and being back in the country someday will definitely help.
I’m trying not to get too down on myself. I’m also TAing a more intermediate class this semester and plan to review all of their content to make sure I’m on top of things. It just sucks to go from feeling on top of the world, gliding through conversations with strangers, to feeling like you understand nothing again sometimes. Although, some of it may just be my own perception of my skill. In general it is tough to be studying a language for so many years and still struggle so much, though I know that’s the nature of Japanese for most people. I would seek out some kind of local Japanese community, but… there isn’t any near me lol. My one friend is working as a professor in the department on exchange. I just got a Satori reader subscription and am going to start getting really serious about keeping up with my reviews every day.
Just looking for any thoughts or anyone who relates. It’s tough!
If it is any consolation to you – when you regress in skill, you will find that you often remember more than you think! When I returned from study abroad in Japan this previous summer, I incessantly worried during the first few weeks of the semester that my less-than-consistent study routine would mean I was destined to bad grades. What ended up actually happening was that except for some particularly troubling grammar, I found that most of my knowledge restored itself in due time. It seems from your post that you have plenty of day-to-day use of the language, but maybe to alleviate your worries you could try translating harder manga or artificially using the grammar as often as possible while outputting? I managed to stave off some regression over winter break by maintaining a Japanese-language diary, and practicing grammar points I was weak in by writing in that. Perhaps that might work for you? It is indeed a challenge, but it sounds like you have a great plan to manage it!
Yeah, for sure! It’s a huge rollercoaster, from thinking that you’re so good to then thinking you’re terrible again lol. But it’s probably mostly in our heads
Losing a bit of fluency is normal and does not equal to total loss.
I’m starting again after a more or less a decade of total non active practice and I thought I had lost everything but when confronted to words I did know or learn passively over years of just being exposed to the language oral form though VOSTA i find my passive comprehension way higher than I expected.
Do not be discouraged
Go back there eventually, take a pint in the nearest isayaka (very little alcohol help with stress speaking), smile and boom you"re back !
Well, it’s hard to argue that living in immersion works a thousand times better than learning through textbooks and reviews.
Even by spending 3 weeks in Japan on holiday I could feel my japanese visibly improving with pretty much every passing day.
I’d suggest finding ways to kinda take some of that immersion with you - maybe start making some pen pals on LINE or making japanese friends IRL?
It also really helped me when I learned more about how the brain learns: of course repetition is important but the process of forgetting and relearning is actually really necessary for long term memorization. So that means that forgetting and then reminding yourself is actually good! You’ll be a stronger language user in the long run.
